e>>2. 

IB  ^  1^-3 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 


THE 

VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 


By 
WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN 


FUNK  &  WAGNALLS  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

1914 


199 


PUBLISHERS'  NOTE 

"The  Value  of  An  Ideal"  is  a  lecture 
delivered  by  Mr.  Bryan  at  numerous 
Chautauquas  and  College  gatherings,  be- 
ginning in  190 1. 


Copyright,  1909  and  1914.  by 

WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN 

Published,  September,  1914 


{fBINTED  IN  T7IE   rvI*ED   STATES  OF  AMERICA) 


THE  VALUE   OF  AN 
IDEAL 

WHAT  is  the  value  of  an  ideal? 
Have  you  ever  attempted  to 
estimate  its  worth?  Have  you  ever 
tried  to  measure  its  value  in  dollars 
and  cents?  If  you  would  know  the 
pecuniary  value  of  an  ideal,  go  into 
the  home  of  some  man  of  great 
wealth  who  has  an  only  son ;  go  into 
that  home  when  the  son  has  gone 
downward  in  a  path  of  dissipation 
until  the  father  no  longer  hopes  for 
his  reform,  and  then  ask  the  father 
what  an  ideal  would  have  been  worth 
that  would  have  made  a  man  out  of 
his  son  instead  of  a  wreck.  He  will 
tell  you  that  all  the  money  that  he  has 
[5] 


F  AN  IDEAL 

or  could  have  he  would  gladly  give 
for  an  ideal  of  life  that  would  turn 
his  boy's  steps  upward  instead  of 
downward. 

An  ideal  is  above  price.  It  means 
the  difference  between  success  and 
failure — the  difference  between  a  no- 
ble life  and  a  disgraceful  career,  and 
it  sometimes  means  the  difference  be- 
tween life  and  death.  Have  you  no- 
ticed the  increasing  number  of  sui- 
cides? I  speak  not  of  those  sad  cases 
in  which  the  reason  dethroned  leaves 
the  hand  no  guide,  but  rather  of 
those  cases,  increasing  in  number, 
where  the  person  who  takes  his  life 
finds  nothing  worth  living  for.  When 
I  read  of  one  of  these  cases  I  ask 
myself  whether  it  is  not  caused  by  a 
false  ideal  of  life.  If  one  measures 
life  by  what  others  do  for  him  he  is 
apt  to  be  disappointed,  for  people  are 
[6] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

not  likely  to  do  as  much  for  him  as 
he  expects,  One  of  the  most  difficult 
things  in  life  is  to  maintain  the  parity 
between  one's  opinion  of  his  own 
merits  and  the  opinion  that  others 
have  of  him.  If,  I  repeat,  a  man 
measures  life  by  what  others  do  for 
him,  he  is  apt  to  be  disappointed,  but 
if  he  measures  life  by  what  he  does 
for  others,  there  is  no  time  for  de- 
spair. If  he  measures  life  by  its  ac- 
cumulations, these  usually  fall  short 
of  his  expectations,  but  if  he  meas- 
ures life  by  the  contribution  which  he 
makes  to  the  sum  of  human  happi- 
ness, his  only  disappointment  is  in 
not  finding  time  to  do  all  that  his 
heart  prompts  him  to  do./  Whether 
he  spends  his  time  trying  to  absorb 
from  the  world,  only  to  have  the  bur- 
den of  life  grow  daily  heavier,  or 
spends  his  time  in  an  effort  to  accom- 
[7] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

plish  something  of  real  value  to  the 
race,  depends  upon  his  ideal. 

The  ideal  must  be  far  enough 
above  us  to  keep  us  looking  upward 
to  it  all  the  time,  and  it  must  be  far 
enough  in  advance  of  us  to  keep  us 
struggling  toward  it  to  the  end  of 
life.  It  is  a  very  poor  ideal  that  one 
ever  fully  realizes,  and  it  is  a  great 
misfortune  for  one  to  overtake  his 
ideal,  for,  when  he  does,  his  progress 
ceasesv  I  was  once  made  an  honorary 
member  of  a  class  and  asked  to 
suggest  a  class  motto.  I  suggested 
"Ever-Green"  and  some  of  the  class 
did  not  like  it.  They  did  not  like  to 
admit  that  they  ever  had  been  green, 
not  to  speak  of  always  being  green. 
But  it  is  a  good  class  motto  because 
the  period  of  greenness  is  the  period 
of  growth.  When  we  cease  to  be 
green  and  are  entirely  ripe  we  are 
[8] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

ready  for  decay.  I  like  to  think  of 
life  as  a  continual  progress  toward 
higher  and  better  things — as  a  con- 
tinual unfolding.  There  is  no  better 
description  of  a  really  noble  life  than 
that  given  in  Holy  Writ  where  Solo- 
mon speaks  of  the  path  of  the  just  as 
"like  the  shining  light  that  shineth 
more  and  more  unto  the  perfect  day/' 
rThe  ideal  is  permanent ;  it  does  not 
change.  Therefore  it  is  so  impor- 
tant that  the  ideal  shall  be  a  worthy 
one.  I  speak  as  a  parent  to  parents, 
and  teachers  will  endorse  what  I  say, 
when  I  declare  that  one  of  the  most 
important  things  in  dealing  with  the 
young  is  to  get  the  person  to  take 
firm  hold  of  a  high  ideal./  Give  one 
food  and  he  will  hunger  again ;  give 
him  clothing  and  his  clothing  will 
wear  out,  but  give  him  a  high  ideal 
and  that  ideal  will  be  with  him 
[9] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

through  every  waking  hour,  lifting 
him  tp  a  higher  plane  in  life  and  giv- 
ing him  a  broader  conception  of  his 
relations  to  his  fellows.  /Plans  may 
change;  circumstances  will  change 
plans.  Each  one  of  us  can  testify  to 
this.  Even  ambitions  change,  for  cir- 
cumstances will  change  ambitions)  If 
you  will  pardon  a  reference  to  my 
own  case,  I  have  had  three  ambitions 
— two  so  far  back  that  I  can  scarcely 
remember  them  —  and  one  so  re- 
cent that  I  can  hardly  forget  it 
My  first  ambition  was  to  be  a 
Baptist  preacher.  When  I  was  a 
small  boy,  if  anybody  asked  me 
what  I  intended  to  be,  I  always  re- 
plied :  "A  Baptist  preacher" ;  but  my 
father  took  me  one  evening  to  see  an 
immersion  and  upon  reaching  home 
I  asked  him  if  it  would  be  necessary 
to  go  down  into  that  pool  of  water  in 

[10] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

order  to  be  a  Baptist  preacher.  He 
replied  that  it  would,  and  it  is  a  tra- 
dition in  our  family  that  I  never 
afterward  would  say  that  I  was 
going  to  be  a  Baptist  preacher. 

My  second  ambition  was  to  be  a 
farmer  and  raise  pumpkins,  and  there 
are  doubtless  a  great  many  people 
who  are  glad  that  I  now  have  a 
chance  to  realize  my  second  ambition 
without  having  my  agricultural  pur- 
suits interrupted  by  official  cares. 

My  third  ambition  was  to  be  a 
lawyer.  When  I  was  a  small  boy  I 
used  to  go  to  the  court-house  and  sit- 
ting upon  the  steps  leading  up 
to  the  bench  upon  which  my  father 
then  sat  I  listened  to  the  trial  of  cases 
and  looked  forward  to  the  time 
when  I  would  be  practising  at  the 
bar.  That  ambition  guided  me 
through  my  boyhood  days  and  my 
[11] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

college  days.  I  studied  law,  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar,  practised  for  a  while 
in  Illinois  and  then  located  in  Ne- 
braska. In  removing  from  Illinois  to 
Nebraska  I  was  influenced  solely  by 
professional  reasons.  I  need  not  give 
you  any  further  assurance  that  I  did 
not  move  to  Nebraska  for  political 
reasons  than  to  say  that  at  the  time 
of  my  location  in  Lincoln,  Nebraska 
was  republican,  the  congressional  dis- 
trict was  republican,  the  county  was 
republican,  the  city  was  republican, 
the  ward  was  republican,  and  the  vot- 
ing precinct  was  republican — and  to 
tell  the  truth  about  it,  there  has  not 
been  as  much  change  in  that  respect 
as  there  ought  to  have  been,  consid- 
ering the  intelligence  of  the  people 
among  whom  I  have  been  living. 

I  entered  politics  by  accident  and 
remained   there   by  design.      I   was 

[12] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

nominated  for  Congress  in  1890  be- 
cause it  was  not  thought  possible  for 
a  democrat  to  be  elected.  I  was 
young  and  new  in  the  State.  If  it 
had  been  a  democratic  district  the 
I  honor  would  have  gone  to  some  one 
•  older,  of  longer  residence  and  more 
deserving.  A  republican  paper  said 
next  morning  after  the  convention 
that  a  confidence  game  had  been 
played  upon  a  young  man  from  Illi- 
nois and  that  he  had  been  offered  as  a 
sacrifice  upon  the  party  altar  because 
he  had  not  been  in  the  State  long 
enough  to  know  the  political  complex- 
ion of  the  district.  My  location  in 
Nebraska  was  due  to  my  acquaintance 
with  a  man  whom  I  learned  to  know 
in  college,  and  this  acquaintance  be- 
came more  intimate  because  of  a  joke 
which  I  played  upon  him  when  we 
were  students.  Tracing  it  back,  step 
[13] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

by  step,  I  said  one  evening  in  Balti- 
more that  I  was  elected  to  Congress 
as  a  result  of  a  joke  that  I  played 
upon  a  friend  in  college.  The  gentle- 
man who  followed  me  said  that  that 
was  nothing,  and  that  he  had  known 
men  to  go  to  Congress  as  a  result  of 
a  joke  they  had  played  upon  an  en- 
tire community. 

My  term  in  Congress  brought  me 
into  contact  with  the  great  political 
and  economic  problems  now  demand- 
ing solution  and  I  have  never  since 
that  time  been  willing  to  withdraw 
myself  from  their  study  and  discus- 
sion, and  I  offer  no  apology  at  this 
time  for  being  interested  in  the  sci- 
ence of  government.  It  is  a  noble 
science,  and  one  to  which  the  citizen 
must  give  his  attention.  I  have  no 
patience  with  those  who  feel  that  they 
are  too  good  to  take  part  in  politics. 

[14] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

When  I  find  a  person  who  thinks  that 
he  is  too  good  to  take  part  in  politics, 
I  find  one  who  is  not  quite  good 
enough  to  deserve  the  blessings  of  a 
free  government.  Parents  some- 
times warn  their  sons  to  keep  out  of 
(politics;  mothers  sometimes  urge 
I  their  sons  to  avoid  politics  lest  they 
[become  contaminated  by  it.  This 
ought  not  to  be.  It  used  to  be  the 
boast  of  the  Roman  matron  that  she 
could  rear  strong  and  courageous 
sons  for  the  battle-field.  In  this  age 
when  the  victories  of  peace  are  no 
less  renowned  than  the  victories  of 
war,  and  in  this  country  where  every 
year  brings  a  conflict,  it  ought  to  be 
the  boast  of  American  mothers  that 
they  can  rear  strong  and  courageous 
sons  who  can  enter  politics  without 
contamination  and  purify  politics 
rather  than  be  corrupted  by  politics. 
[15] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

But  while  my  plans  and  ambitions 
have  been  changed  by  circumstances, 
I  trust  that  my  ideals  of  citizenship 
have  not  changed,  and  that  I  may  be 
permitted  to  share  with  you  an  ideal 
that  will  place  above  the  holding  of- 
any  office,  however  great,  the  purpose 
to  do  what  we  can  to  make  this  coun- 
try so  good  that  to  be  a  private  citi- 
zen in  the  United  States  will  be 
greater  than  to  be  a  king  in  any  other 
nation. 

\The  ideal  dominates  the  life,  de- 
termines the  character  and  fixes  a 
man's  place  among  his  fellows.  I 
shall  mention  some  instances  that 
have  come  under  my  own  observation 
and  as  I  speak  of  them  I  am  sure  you 
will  recall  instances  within  your 
knowledge  where  the  ideal  has  in  an 
open  and  obvious  way  controlled  the 
life.  I  have  known  laboring  men 
[16] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

who,  working  for  wages,  have  been 
able  to  support  themselves,  acquire 
a  library  and  become  acquainted  with 
the  philosophers,  orators  and  his- 
torians of  the  world,  and  many  of 
them  have  laid  aside  enough  to 
gratify  their  ambition  for  a  college 
course.  What  enables  them  to  resist 
temptation  and  press  forward  to  the 
consummation  of  a  high  purpose?  It 
is  their  ideal  of  life^  As  I  have  gone 
through  the  country  I  have  found 
here  and  there  young  men — some- 
times the  sons  of  farmers,  sometimes 
the  sons  of  mechanics,  sometimes 
the  sons  of  merchants,  sometimes  the 
sons  of  professional  men — young 
men  who  have  one  characteristic  in 
common,  namely,  that  they  have  been 
preparing  for  service.  They  have 
learned  that  service  is  the  measure  of 
greatness,  and  tho  they  have  not  al- 
[17] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

ways  known  just  what  line  of  work 
they  were  to  follow,  they  have  been 
preparing  themselves  for  service,  and 
they  will  be  ready  when  the  oppor- 
tunity comes.  J 

I  know  a  young  man  who  came  to 
this  country  when  he  was  eighteen 
years  of  age;  he  came  to  study  our 
institutions  and  learn  of  our  form  of 
government,  and  now  he  has  returned 
with  a  determination  to  be  helpful  to 
his  people.  I  watched  him  for  five 
years,  and  I  never  knew  a  man  who 
more  patiently  or  perseveringly  pur- 
sued a  high  ideal.  You  might  have 
offered  him  all  the  money  in  the 
treasury  to  have  become  a  citizen  of 
the  United  States,  but  it  would  have 
been  no  temptation  to  him.  He  would 
have  told  you  that  he  had  a  higher 
ideal  than  to  stand  guard  over  a  chest 
of  money.  His  desire  was  to  be  use- 
[18] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

ful  to  his  country,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  that  he  will  be. 

I  was  passing  through  Chicago 
some  months  ago,  and,  having  a  few 
hours  to  spare  between  trains,  went 
out  to  Hull  House,  that  splendid 
institution  presided  over  by  Jane 
Addams.  I  was  surprized  to  learn  of 
the  magnitude  of  its  work.  I  learned 
that  more  than  five  thousand  names 
were  enrolled  upon  the  books  of  the 
association;  that  mothers  left  their 
babes  there  to  be  cared  for  when  they 
went  out  to  work,  that  little  children 
received  kindergarten  instruction 
there,  that  young  women  found  a 
home  there,  and  young  men  a  place 
where  they  could  meet  and  commune 
free  from  the  temptations  of  city  life. 
More  than  twenty  young  men  and 
young  women  give  their  entire  time 
to  the  work  of  this  association  with- 
[19] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

out  compensation.  Similar  institu- 
tions will  be  found  in  nearly  all  of 
the  larger  cities  and  in  many  of  the 
smaller  ones,  and  in  these  institutions 
young  men  and  young  women,  many 
of  them  college  graduates,  give  a  part 
or  all  of  their  time  to  gratuitous 
work.  Why?  Because  somehow  or 
somewhere  they  have  taken  hold  of 
an  ideal  of  life  that  lifts  them  above 
the  sordid  selfishness  that  surrounds 
them  and  makes  them  find  a  delight 
in  bringing  life  and  light  and  hope 
into  homes  that  are  dark.  The  same 
can  be  said  of  the  thousands  who 
labor  in  institutions  of  charity,  mercy 
and  benevolence. 

In  December,  1903,  it  was  my  good 
fortune  to  spend  a  day  in  the  country 
home  of  the  great  philosopher  of 
Russia.  You  know  something  of  the 

history  of  Tolstoy,  how  he  was  born 
[20] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

in  the  ranks  of  the  nobility  and  how 
with  such  a  birth  he  enjoyed  every 
possible  social  distinction.  At  an 
early  age  he  became  a  writer  of  fic- 
tion and  his  books  have  given  him  a 
fixt  place  among  the  novelists  of  the 
century.  "He  sounded  all  the  depths 
and  shoals  of  honor"  in  so  far  as 
honor  could  be  derived  from  society 
or  from  literature,  and  yet,  at  the  age 
of  forty-eight,  life  seemed  so  vain 
and  empty  to  him  that  he  wanted  to 
die.  They  showed  me  a  ring  in  the 
ceiling  of  a  room  in  his  house  from 
which  he  had  planned  to  hang  him- 
self. And  what  deterred  him?  A 
change  came  in  his  ideals.  He  was 
born  again,  he  became  a  new  crea- 
ture, and  for  more  than  twenty-eight 
years,  clad  in  the  garb  of  a  peasant 
and  living  the  simple  life  of  a  peas- 
ant, he  has  been  preaching  unto  all 

[21] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

the  world  a  philosophy  that  rests 
upon  the  doctrine  "Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart 
and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  There 
is  scarcely  a  civilized  community  in 
all  the  world  where  the  name  of 
Tolstoy  is  not  known  and  where  his 
influence  has  not  been  felt.  He  has 
made  such  an  impression  upon  the 
heart  of  Russia  and  the  world  that 
while  some  of  his  books  are  refused 
publication  in  Russia  and  denied  im- 
portation from  abroad,  and  while 
people  are  prohibited  from  circulat- 
ing some  of  the  things  that  he  writes, 
yet  with  a  million  men  under  arms 
the  government  does  not  lay  its  hands 
upon  Tolstoy. 

Let  me  add  another  illustration  of 

a  complete  change  in  the  ideal.     In 

college  I  became  acquainted  with  a 

student  fourteen  years  my  senior,  and 

[22] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

learned  the  story  of  his  life.  For 
some  years  he  was  a  tramp,  going 
from  place  to  place  without  fixt  pur- 
pose or  habitation.  One  night  he 
went  by  accident  into  a  place  where 
a  revival  was  in  progress,  and  he  was 
not  only  converted  but  he  decided  to 
be  a  minister.  I  watched  him  as  he 
worked  his  way  through  college,  do- 
ing chores  to  earn  his  board  and 
lodging,  working  on  Saturdays  in  a 
store,  and  during  the  summer  months 
at  anything  he  could  find  to  do.  I 
watched  him  as  he  worked  his  way 
through  the  theological  seminary,  and 
then  I  watched  him  as  he  preached 
the  Gospel  until  he  died,  and  I  never 
knew  a  man  more  consecrated  to  a 
high  purpose.  The  change  came  in 
his  life  as  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye. 
Could  anything  be  more  marvelous? 
Some  have  rejected  the  Christian 

[23] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

religion  because  they  could  not  under- 
stand its  mysteries  and  its  miracles. 
I  have  been  reading  a  book  recently 
on  materialism  and  I  have  been  in- 
terested in  the  attempt  of  the  author 
to  drive  God  out  of  the  universe.  He 
searches  for  Him  with  a  microscope, 
and,  because  he  can  not  find  him  with 
a  microscope,  he  declares  that  he  is 
too  small  to  see ;  then  he  searches  for 
Him  with  a  telescope,  and,  because  he 
can  not  see  Him  among  the  stars  or 
beyond,  he  declares  that  there  is  no 
God — that  matter  and  force  alone  are 
eternal,  and  that  force  acting  on  mat- 
ter has  produced  the  clod,  the  grass 
that  grows  upon  the  clod,  the  beast 
that  feeds  upon  the  grass,  and  man, 
the  climax  of  created  things.  I  have 
tried  to  follow  his  reasoning  and  have 
made  up  my  mind  that  it  requires 
more  faith  to  accept  the  scientific 

[24] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

demonstrations  of  materialism  than 
to  accept  any  religion  I  have  ever 
known.  As  I  tried  to  follow  his  syllo- 
gisms I  was  reminded  of  the  reason- 
ing of  a  man  who  conceived  the  idea 
that  a  grasshopper  heard  through  its 
legs.  But  he  would  not  accept  it 
without  demonstration,  so  he  took  a 
grasshopper,  put  it  on  a  board  and 
knocked  on  the  board.  The  grass- 
hopper jumped,  and  this  he  regarded 
as  evidence  that  the  sound  traveled 
along  the  board  till  it  reached  the 
grasshopper's  legs  and  then  went  up 
through  the  legs  to  the  center  of  life. 
But  he  was  not  willing  to  accept  it 
upon  affirmative  proof  alone;  he  in- 
sisted upon  proving  it  negatively,  so 
he  pulled  the  legs  off  the  grasshopper 
and  put  it  on  the  board  and  rapped 
again.  As  the  grasshopper  did  not 

[25] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

jump,  he  was  convinced  that  it  heard 
through  its  legs. 

I  say  I  was  reminded  of  the  grass- 
hopper scientist  when  I  read  the  ar- 
guments employed  to  prove  that  there 
is  no  God,  no  spiritual  life. 

In  the  journey  from  the  cradle  to 
the  grave  we  encounter  nothing  so 
marvelous  as  that  change  in  the  ideals 
which  works  a  revolution  in  the  life 
itself,  and  there  is  nothing  in  ma- 
terialism to  explain  this  change. 

It  is  of  vital  importance  to  the 
individual  what  his  ideal  is,  and  it 
also  makes  a  difference  to  those  about 
him.  If  you  have  a  man  working 
for  you,  it  makes  a  great  deal  of 
difference  to  you  whether  he  is 
watching  you  all  the  time  to  see  that 
you  give  him  the  best  possible  pay 
for  his  work,  or  watching  himself  a 

little  to  see  that  he  gives  you  the  best 
[26] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

possible  work  for  his  pay.  And  we 
are  all  working  for  somebody./  In- 
stead of  working  by  the  day  and  re- 
ceiving our  pay  at  night,  or  instead 
of  working  by  the  month  and  receiv- 
ing our  pay  at  the  end  of  the  month, 
we  may  be  in  independent  business 
and  receiving  a  compensation  fixt  by 
competition,  but  if  we  are  not  living 
a  life  of  idleness  we  must  be  working 
for  somebody,  and  it  makes  a  ma- 
terial difference  to  society  whether 
we  are  simply  bent  upon  absorbing  as 
much  as  possible  from  the  world,  or 
are  trying  to  give  a  dollar's  worth  of 
service  for  a  dollar's  worth  of  pay./ 
There  are  some  who  regard  it  as  a 
discreditable  thing  to  engage  in  pro- 
ductive labor.  There  are  places 
where  they  count  with  pride  the  num- 
ber of  generations  between  them- 
selves and  honest  toil.  If  I  can  leave 
[27] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

but  one  thought  with  the  young  men 
who  honor  me  by  their  presence  on 
this  occasion,  let  it  be  this  thought — 
that  we  must  all  have  food  and  cloth- 
ing and  shelter,  and  must  either  earn 
these  things  or  have  them  given  to  us, 
and  any  self-respecting  young  man 
ought  to  be  ashamed  to  sponge  upon 
the  world  for  his  living  and  not  ren- 
der unto  the  world  valuable  service  in 
return. 

Sometimes  you  meet  a  man  who 
boasts  that  he  is  "self-made/'  that  he 
did  it  all  himself,  that  he  owes  no 
man  anything.  When  I  hear  of  a 
man  boasting  of  his  independence  I 
feel  like  cross-examining  him.  We 
owe  a  great  deal  to  environment.  I 
was  going  along  by  the  side  of  the 
court-house  in  Chicago  one  wintry 
day  when  I  was  in  law  school  and 
saw  some  little  boys  gambling  with 
[28] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

their  pennies  in  a  warm  corner  by  the 
building.  A  question  arose  in  my 
mind,  namely,  why  these  little  fellows 
were  born  and  reared  amid  an  evi- 
ronment  that  gave  them  no  higher 
ideals  of  life,  while  so  many  in  Chi- 
cago and  in  the  country  at  large  were 
born  amid  a  more  favorable  environ- 
ment. The  scene  made  an  impression 
upon  my  memory,  and  when  I  hear  a 
man  boasting  that  he  owes  no  one 
anything,  I  feel  like  asking  him 
whether  he  has  paid  back  the  debt  he 
owes  to  father  and  mother,  teacher 
and  seer.  Whether  he  has  paid 
back  the  debt  he  owes  to  the  patriots 
who  with  blood  and  sacrifice  pur- 
chased the  liberties  which  we  now 
enjoy.  We  have  received  so  much 
from  the  generations  past  and  from 
those  about  us  that,  instead  of  boast- 
ing of  what  we  have  done,  we  ought 

[29] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

to  learn  humility  and  be  content  if  at 
the  end  of  li^e  we  can  look  back  over 
the  years  and  be  assured  that  we  have 
given  to  the  world  a  service  equal  in 
value  to  that  which  we  have  received. 

There  is  abroad  in  the  land  a  spec- 
ulative spirit  that  is  doing  much 
harm.  Instead  of  trying  to  earn  a 
living,  young  men  are  bent  on  making 
a  fortune.  Not  content  with  the 
slow  accumulations  of  honest  toil, 
they  are  seeking  some  short  cut  to 
riches,  and  are  not  always  scrupulous 
about  the  means  employed.  The 
"get-rich-quick"  schemes  that  spring 
up  and  swindle  the  public,  until  they 
are  discovered  and  driven  out,  prey 
upon  the  speculative  spirit  and  find 
all  their  victims  among  those  who  are 
trying  to  get  something  for  nothing. 

What  we  need  to-day  is  an  ideal  of 
life  that  will  make  people  as  anxious 

[30] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

to  render  full  service  as  they  are  to 
draw  full  pay — an  ideal  that  will 
make  them  measure  life  by  what  they 
bestow  upon  their  fellows  and  not  by 
what  they  receive. 

Not  only  must  the  individual  have 
an  ideal,  but  we  must  have  ideals  as 
groups  of  individuals  and  in  every 
department  of  life.  We  have  our 
domestic  ideals.  Whether  a  mar- 
riage is  happy  or  not  depends  not  so 
much  upon  the  size  of  the  house  or 
the  amount  of  the  income,  as  upon 
the  ideals  with  which  the  parties 
enter  marriage.  If  two  people  con- 
tract marriage  like  some  people  trade 
horses — each  one  trying  to  get  the 
better  of  the  bargain — it  is  not  cer- 
tain that  the  marriage  will  be  a  happy 
one.  In  fact,  the  man  who  cheats  in 
a  horse  trade  has  at  least  one  advan- 
tage over  the  man  who  cheats  in 

[31] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

matrimony.  The  man  who  cheats  in 
a  horse  trade  may  console  himself 
with  the  thought  that  he  may  never 
see  again  the  person  whom  he  has 
cheated.  Not  so  fortunate  is  the  man 
who  cheats  in  marriage.  He  not  only 
sees  daily  the  person  whom  he  has 
cheated,  but  he  is  sometimes  reminded 
of  it — and  it  is  just  as  bad  if  the 
cheating  is  done  by  the  other  side. 
y  Americans  sometimes  have  cause  to 
blush  when  they  read  of  some  of  the 
international  marriages  discust  in  the 
papers.  I  speak  not  now  of  those 
cases  where  love  leaps  across  the 
ocean  and  binds  two  hearts — there  are 
such  cases  and  they  are  worthy  of  a 
blessing.  But  I  speak  rather  of  those 
commercial  transactions  which  are, 
by  courtesy,  called  marriages,  where 
some  young  woman  in  this  country 
trades  a  fortune  that  she  never 

[32] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

earned  to  a  broken-down  prince  in 
another  country  for  a  title  that  he 
never  earned,  and  they  call  it  a  fair 
exchange.  I  have  sometimes  thought 
that  it  might  be  worth  while  to  estab- 
lish papers  in  the  centers  of  the  old 
world  to  tell  the  people  of  our  real 
marriages,  so  that  they  would  not 
misunderstand  us. 

/^There  is  an  American  ideal  of  do- 
mestic life.  When  two  persons, 
drawn  together  by  the  indissoluble 
ties  of  love,  enter  marriage,  each  one 
contributing  a  full  part  and  both 
ready  to  share  life's  struggles  and 
trials  as  well  as  its  victories  and  its 
joys — when  these,  mutually  helpful 
and  mutually  forbearing,  start  out  to 
build  an  American  home  it  ought  to 
be  the  fittest  earthly  type  of  heaven. 
In  business  it  is  necessary  to  have 
an  ideal.  It  is  as  impossible  to  build 
[33] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

a  business  without  an  ideal  as  it  is  to 
build  a  house  without  a  plan.  Some 
think  that  competition  is  so  sharp 
now  that  it  is  impossible  to  be  strictly 
honest  in  business;  some  think  that 
it  is  necessary  to  recommend  a  thing, 
not  as  it  is,  but  as  the  customer  wants 
it  to  be.  There  never  was  a  time 
when  it  was  more  necessary  than  it  is 
to-day  that  business  should  be  built 
upon  a  foundation  of  absolute  integ- 
rity. 

In  the  professions,  also,  an  ideal  is 
necessary.  Take  the  medical  profes- 
sion for  illustration.  It  is  proper 
that  the  physician  should  collect 
money  from  his  patients  for  he  must 
live  while  he  helps  others  to  live,  but 
the  physicians  who  have  written  their 
names  high  upon  the  scroll  of  fame 
have  had  a  higher  ideal  than  the 

making  of  money.    They  have  had  a 
[34] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

passion  for  the  study  of  their  profes- 
sion; they  have  searched  diligently 
for  the  hidden  causes  of  disease  and 
the  remedies  therefor  and  they  have 
found  more  delight  in  giving  to  the 
world  some  discovery  of  benefit  to  the 
race  than  they  have  found  in  all  the 
money  they  have  collected  from  their 
patients. 

And  the  lawyer;  has  he  ideals? 
Yes.  And  I  suppose  the  ideals  of 
lawyers  vary  as  much  as  the  ideals 
in  any  other  profession.  The  law- 
yer's ideals  have  an  influence  upon 
his  character.  He  can  not  persist- 
ently defeat  justice,  or  even  ignore 
it,  without  a  certain  lowering  of  his 
manhood,  while  conscientious  search 
for  justice  increases  his  power  of 
discernment  and  adds  to  his  moral 
strength. 

Then,  too,  a  lawyer's  influence  with 

[35] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

the  judge  depends  largely  upon  his 
reputation  for  honesty.  Of  course,  a 
lawyer  can  fool  a  judge  a  few  times 
and  lead  him  into  a  hole,  but  after 
a  while  the  judge  learns  to  know  the 
lawyer,  and  then  he  can  not  follow 
the  lawyer's  arguments  because  he  is 
looking  for  the  hole  all  the  time, 
which  he  knows  is  somewhere  and 
which  he  is  trying  to  avoid.  I  need 
not  remind  you  that  nothing  is  so 
valuable  to  a  jury  lawyer  as  a  repu- 
tation that  will  make  the  jurors  be- 
lieve that  he  will  not  under  any  cir- 
cumstances misstate  a  proposition  of 
law  or  of  evidence.  And  so  I  might 
take  up  each  occupation,  calling  and 
profession,  and  show  that  the  ideal 
controls  the  life,  determines  the  char- 
acter and  establishes  a  man's  place 
among  his  f ellows. 

But  let  me  speak  of  the  ideals  of  a 

[36] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

larger  group,  What  of  our  political 
ideals  ?  The  party  as  well  as  the  indi- 
vidual must  have  its  ideals,  and  we 
are  far  enough  from  the  election  to 
admit  that  there  is  room  in  all  par- 
ties for  the  raising  of  the  party  ideal. 
How  can  a  person  most  aid  his 
party?  Let  us  suppose  that  one  is 
passionately  devoted  to  his  party  and 
anxious  to  render  it  the  maximum 
of  service;  how  can  he  render  this 
service?  By  raising  the  ideal  of  his 
party.  If  a  young  man  asks  me  how 
he  can  make  a  fortune  in  a  day,  I 
can  not  tell  him.  If  he  asks  how  he 
can  become  rich  in  a  year,  I  know  not 
what  to  answer  him,  but  I  can  tell 
him  that  if  he  will  locate  in  any  com- 
munity and  for  twenty-five  years  live 
an  honest  life,  an  industrious  life,  a 
useful  life,  he  will  make  friends  and 
fasten  them  to  him  with  hooks  of 
[37] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

steel;  he  will  make  his  impress  upon 
the  community  and  the  chances  are 
many  to  one  that  before  the  quarter 
of  a  century  has  elapsed  his  fellows 
will  call  upon  him  to  act  for  them  and 
to  represent  them  in  important  mat- 
ters. 

And  so  if  you  ask  me  how  we  can 
win  an  election  this  year,  I  do  not 
know.  xlf  you  ask  me  how  we  can 
insure  a  victory  four  years  from  now, 
I  can  not  tell,  but  I  do  know  that  the 
party  which  has  the  highest  ideals 
and  that  strives  most  earnestly  to 
realize  its  ideals  will  ultimately  dom- 
inate this  country  and  make  its  im- 
press upon  the  history  of  the  nation^- 
As  it  is  more  important  that  the 
young  man  shall  know  how  to  build 
character  and  win  a  permanent  suc- 
cess than  that  he  shall  know  how  to 
become  rich  in  a  day,  so  it  is  more 

[38] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

important  that  we  shall  know  how  to 
contribute  to  the  permanent  influence 
of  a  party  than  it  is  that  we  be  able 
to  win  a  temporary  victory  or  dis- 
tribute the  spoils  of  office  after  a  suc- 
cessful campaign. 

The  country  is  suffering  to-day 
from  a  demoralization  of  its  ideals. 
Instead  of  measuring  people  by  the 
manhood  or  womanhood  they  mani- 
fest, we  are  too  prone  to  measure 
them  by  the  amount  of  money  they 
possess,  and  this  demoralization  has 
naturally  and  necessarily  extended  to 
politics.  Instead  of  asking  "Is  it 
right?"  we  are  tempted  to  ask  "Will 
it  pay?"  and  "Will  it  win?"  As  a 
result  the  public  conscience  is  becom- 
ing seared  and  the  public  service  de- 
bauched. We  find  corruption  in  elec- 
tions and  corruption  in  office.  Men 
sell  their  votes,  councilmen  sell  their 

[39] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

influence,  while  State  legislators  and 
federal  representatives  turn  the  gov- 
ernment from  its  legitimate  channels 
and  make  it  a  private  asset  in  busi- 
ness. It  is  said  that  in  some  precincts 
in  Delaware  a  majority  of  the  voters 
have  been  paid  for  their  votes.  Gov- 
ernor Garvin  of  Rhode  Island  calls 
attention  to  the  corruption  in  that 
State;  there  is  corruption  in  Con- 
necticut, in  New  Jersey  and  in  Penn- 
sylvania. I  learned  of  an  instance  in 
New  York  where  a  farmer  with  a 
quarter-section  of  land  demanded  a 
dollar  and  a  half  for  his  vote,  and  I 
learned  of  another  instance  in  West 
Virginia  where  a  man  came  in  four- 
teen miles  from  the  country  the  day 
before  election  to  notify  the  com- 
mittee that  he  would  not  vote  the  next 
day  unless  he  received  a  dollar.  In 
some  places  I  found  that  democrats 

[40] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

were  imitating  republican  methods. 
They  excused  it  by  saying  that  they 
were  fighting  the  devil  with  fire. 
This  is  no  excuse.  It  is  poor  policy 
to  fight  the  devil  with  fire.  He  knows 
more  about  fire  than  you  do  and  does 
not  have  to  pay  so  much  for  fuel.  I 
was  assured  that  the  democrats  did 
not  buy  votes  exactly  like  the  repub- 
licans. I  was  assured  that  the  demo- 
crats only  bought  votes  when  they 
found  some  democrat  who  was  being 
tempted  more  than  he  could  bear,  and 
that  they  only  used  money  to  fortify 
the  virtue  of  the  democrat  for  fear 
he  might  yield  to  temptation  and  be- 
come vicious. 

How  are  we  to  stop  this  corrup- 
tion? Not  by  going  into  the  market 
and  bidding  against  our  opponents, 
but  by  placing  against  money  some- 
thing stronger  than  money.  And 

[41] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

what  is  stronger  than  money?  A 
conscience  is  stronger  than  money. 
A  conscience  that  will  enable  a  man 
to  stand  by  a  stake  and  smile  while 
the  flames  consume  him  is  stronger 
than  money,  and  we  must  appeal  to 
the  conscience — not  to  a  democratic 
conscience  or  to  a  republican  con- 
science, but  to  an  American  con- 
science and  to  a  Christian  conscience, 
and  place  this  awakened  conscience 
against  the  onflowing  tide  of  corrup- 
tion in  the  United  States. 

We  must  have  parties  in  this  coun- 
try. Jefferson  said  that  there  were 
naturally  two  parties  in  every  coun- 
try— a  democratic  party  and  an 
aristocratic  party  (and  he  did  not  use 
the  word  "democratic"  in  a  partizan 
sense,  for  at  that  time  the  party 
which  we  now  call  democratic  was 
called  the  republican  party).  Jef- 

[42] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

fcrson  said  that  a  democratic  party 
would  naturally  draw  to  itself  those 
who  believe  in  the  people  and  trust 
them,  while  an  aristocratic  party 
would  naturally  draw  to  itself  those 
who  do  not  believe  in  or  trust  the 
people.  Jefferson  was  right.  Go  into 
any  country  in  Europe,  and  you  will 
find  a  party  of  some  name  that  is 
trying  to  increase  the  participation  of 
the  people  in  the  government,  and 
you  will  also  find  a  party  of  some 
name  which  is  obstructing  every  step 
toward  popular  government.  We 
have  the  same  difference  in  this  coun- 
try, but  the  democratic  spirit  is 
broader  here  than  any  party. 
Wherever  the  question  has  been 
clearly  presented  and  on  the  one  side 
there  was  an  attempt  to  carry  the 
government  nearer  to  the  people  and 
on  the  other  an  effort  to  carry  the 

[43] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

government  further  from  the  people, 
popular  government  has  always  won. 
Let  me  illustrate.  The  Australian 
ballot  is  intended  to  protect  the  citi- 
zen in  his  right  to  vote,  and  thus  give 
effect  to  the  real  wishes  of  the  people, 
and  when  this  reform  was  proposed 
it  swept  the  country  without  regard 
to  the  party  in  power  in  the  various 
States.  Take  the  demand  for  the 
election  of  senators  by  the  people; 
upon  what  does  it  rest?  Upon  the 
belief  that  the  people  have  the  right 
to  and  the  capacity  for  self-govern- 
ment. The  sentiment  in  favor  of 
this  reform  has  grown  until  a  resolu- 
tion proposing  a  constitutional 
amendment  has  passed  the  Lower 
House  of  Congress  four  times — twice 
when  the  house  was  democratic  and 
twice  when  it  was  republican.  This 
reform  is  sure  to  come,  because  the 

[44] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

people  believe  in  self-government, 
and  they  will  in  time  insist  upon  mak- 
ing the  government  conform  to  their 
belief.* 

The  initiative  and  referendum  in- 
volve the  same  principles.  The  in- 
itiative describes  the  process  by 
which  the  people  compel  the  submis- 
sion of  a  question  upon  which  they 
desire  to  vote,  and  the  referendum 
describes  the  process  by  which  they 
act  upon  a  question  submitted.  In 
each  new  charter  the  power  of  the 
people  is  increased.  Limitations  are 
placed  upon  legislative  power  and 
new  questions  are  submitted  to  a 
popular  vote.  It  is  now  necessary 
almost  everywhere  to  submit  to  the 
people  of  a  city  the  question  of  issu- 
ing bonds.  The  movement  in  favor 

*  This  reform  has  since  been  accomplished  by 
the  adoption  of  a  constitutional  amendment. 
[45] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

of  submitting  franchises  also  is  an 
irresistible  one,  and  the  time  will 
come  when  it  will  be  impossible  for 
councilmen  to  sell  franchises  in  re- 
turn for  money  paid  to  themselves. 

Switzerland  is  probably  the  most 
democratic  country  in  the  world. 
There  the  initiative  and  referendum 
are  employed  by  both  the  federal 
government  and  by  the  local  subdi- 
visions, and  the  government  is  com- 
pletely responsive  to  the  will  of  the 
people. 

'  In  order  to  formulate  a  party 
ideal,  we  must  have  a  theory  of  gov- 
ernment as  a  basis,  and  in  this  coun- 
try the  fundamental  principle  of 
government  is  that  the  people  have 
a  right  to  have  what  they  want  in 
legislation./  I  made  this  statement  in 
a  lecture  in  Michigan  and  one  of  the 
audience  took  issue  with  me.  He 

[46] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

said  that  I  ought  to  amend  the  state- 
ment and  say  that  the  people  have  a 
right  to  have  what  they  want,  pro- 
vided they  ivant  what  is  right.  I 
asked  him  who  would  decide  the  ques- 
tion of  right.  And  he  had  to  admit 
that,  at  last,  the  decision  lay  with  the 
people.  Constitutions  place  limita- 
tions upon  legislatures  and  upon  the 
people  themselves,  but  the  constitu- 
tions are  made  by  the  people  and  can 
be  changed  by  the  people.  The  only 
escape  from  the  rule  of  the  majority 
is  to  be  found  in  the  rule  of  the 
minority,  but  if  a  majority  make  mis- 
takes, would  not  a  minority  also? 
Mistakes  made  by  a  majority  will  be 
corrected  when  they  are  discovered, 
but  mistakes  made  by  a  minority  may 
not  be  corrected  if  the  mistakes  are 
pecuniarily  advantageous  to  those  in 
power.  The  revolutions  that  have 

[47] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

from  time  to  time  shaken  the  world 
have  been  caused  largely  by  the  re- 
fusal of  the  minority  to  correct  mis- 
takes beneficial  to  those  who  make 
the  mistakes  but  injurious  to  the  peo- 
ple at  large.  Bearing  in  mind  the 
right  of  the  people  to  deliberately  fix 
the  means  by  which  they  will  express 
themselves,  and  their  right  to  place 
limitations  upon  themselves,  so  that 
they  can  not  act  hastily  or  under  a 
sudden  impulse,  I  repeat  that  the 
people  have  a  right  to  have  what  they 
want  in  government.  If  they  want  a 
high  tariff,  they  have  a  right  to  it; 
if  they  want  a  low  tariff,  they  have 
a  right  to  that.  They  have  a  right 
to  make  tariff  laws  and  to  repeal 
them.  They  have  a  right  to  the  gold 
standard  if  they  want  it,  and  they 
have  a  right  to  the  double  standard 
if  they  desire  that,  or  if  they  prefer 

[48] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

they  can  demonetize  both  gold  and 
silver  and  substitute  some  other  kind 
of  money.  If  gold  and  silver  furnish 
too  much  money,  they  can  strike 
down  one;  if  the  remaining  metal 
still  furnishes  too  much,  they  can 
strike  that  down  and  substitute  some- 
thing scarcer.  Ever  since  the  dis- 
covery of  radium,  of  which  it  is  said 
there  are  but  two  pounds  in  the 
world,  I  have  been  fearful  that  an 
attempt  would  be  made  to  make  it  the 
standard  money  of  the  country.  But 
if  the  people  decide  to  demonetize 
both  gold  and  silver  and  substitute 
radium  I  will  still  insist  that  they 
have  a  right  to  do  it.  And,  then,  if 
they  decide  to  give  Morgan  one 
pound  and  Rockefeller  the  other,  I 
shall  still  stand  with  the  people  and 
watch  Rockefeller  and  Morgan  while 

;  they  use  the  money. 
[49] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

The  people  have  a  right  to  have 
trusts  if  they  want  them.  They  have 
a  right  to  have  one  trust,  a  hundred 
trusts  or  a  thousand,  and  they  also 
have  a  right  to  make  a  private  monop- 
oly impossible. 

'  If  the  people  have  a  right  to  have 
what  they  want,  then  the  duty  of  the 
party  is  plain.  It  is  to  present  to  the 
people  a  code  of  principles  and  poli- 
cies to  be  acted  upon  by  them.  Who 
can  defend  the  practising  of  decep- 
tion upon  the  voters  ?  Who  can  jus- 
tify the  winning  of  a  victory  by  false 
pretense?  Who  can  excuse  a  fraud 
upon  the  people?  No  one  can  defend 
a  party  ideal  that  does  not  require 
honesty  in  party  contests.  The  pol- 
icy of  the  party  must  be  determined 
by  the  voters  of  the  party,  and  he 
must  have  a  low  conception  of  polit- 
ical ethics  who  would  seek  by  stealth 
[50] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

to  give  to  the  minority  of  the  party 
the  authority  that  belongs  to  the  ma- 
jority. And  so  he  must  have  a  low 
conception  of  political  ethics  who 
would  seek  to  secure  for  a  minority 
of  the  people  the  authority  that  be- 
longs to  a  majority.  I  want  my  party 
to  write  an  honest  platform,  dealing 
candidly  with  the  questions  at  issue; 
I  want  it  to  nominate  a  ticket  com- 
posed of  men  who  conscientiously  be- 
lieve in  the  principles  of  the  party  as 
enunciated,  and  then  I  want  the  party 
to  announce  to  the  country  "These 
are  our  principles ;  these  are  our  can- 
didates. Elect  them  and  they  will 
carry  out  the  principles  for  which 
they  stand;  they  will  not  under  any 
circumstances  betray  the  trust  com- 
mitted to  their  keeping." 
^This  is  the  ideal  that  the  demo- 

[51] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 


Gratic  party  ought  to  have  and  it  is 
an  ideal  high  enough  for  every  party.  fl 

There  is  this  difference  between 
the  ideal  and  other  things  of  value, 
namely,  that  an  ideal  can  not  be  pat- 
ented or  copyrighted.  We  often  see 
things  that  we  can  not  hope  to  pos- 
sess, but  there  is  no  ideal,  however 
high,  that  can  not  be  ours  if  we  desire 
it.  The  highest  ideal  of  human  life 
that  this  world  has  ever  known  was 
that  presented  to  mankind  by  the  Man 
of  Galilee,  but  it  was  an  ideal  within 
the  comprehension  of  the  fishermen 
of  his  day,  and  the  Bible  says  of  Him 
that  the  common  people  heard  Him 
gladly.  So  it  is  with  a  high  party 
ideal.  It  can  be  comprehended  by  all 
the  members  of  the  party,  and  it  can 
be  adopted  by  every  party.  If  we  can 
fight  out  political  battles  upon  this 
plane  there  is  no  humiliation  about 

[52] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

defeat.  I  have  passed  through  two 
presidential  campaigns,  and  many 
have  rejoiced  over  my  defeats,  but  if 
events  prove  that  my  defeats  have 
been  good  for  this  country,  I  shall 
rejoice  over  them  myself  more  than 
any  opponent  has  rejoiced.  And 
when  I  say  this  I  am  not  unselfish, 
for  it  is  better  for  me  that  my  politi- 
cal opponents  should  bring  good  to 
my  country  than  that  I  should  by  any 
mistake  of  mine  bring  evil. 

Not  only  must  the  party  have  an 
ideal,  but  the  nation  must  also  have 
its  ideal,  and  it  is  the  ideal  of  this 
nation  that  has  made  it  known 
throughout  the  world.  You  will  find 
people  in  foreign  lands  who  do  not 
know  our  population  or  the  number 
of  acres  under  our  flag.  You  will 
find  people  who  do  not  know  how 
many  cattle  we  raise  or  how  much 
[53] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

corn  or  cotton  we  export,  but  you 
will  not  find  people  anywhere  who 
have  not  some  conception  of  the  na- 
tion's ideal.  This  ideal  has  been  a 
light  shining  out  Unto  all  the  world 
and  its  rays  have  illumined  the  shores 
of  every  land.  We  have  boasted  of 
this  ideal  in  the  past,  and  it  must  not 
be  lowered  now.  We  followed  this 
ideal  in  dealing  with  Cuba.  It  was 
my  good  fortune  to  be  in  Cuba  on 
the  day  when  the  formal  transfer 
took  place,  and  I  never  was  more 
proud  of  my  nation  in  my  life  than 
I  was  on  the  2Oth  day  of  May,  1902, 
when  this  great  republic  rose  superior 
to  a  great  temptation,  recognized  the 
inalienable  rights  of  the  people  of 
Cuba  and  secured  to  them  the  fruits 
of  a  victory  for  which  they  had  strug- 
gled and  sacrificed  for  more  than  a 
generation.  We  hauled  down  the 
[54] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

flag,  it  is  true,  and  in  its  place  they 
raised  the  flag  of  the  Cuban  republic, 
but  when  we  lowered  the  flag  we 
raised  it  higher  than  it  ever  had  been 
before,  and  when  we  brought  it  away 
we  left  it  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  a 
grateful  people. 

A  nation,  like  an  individual,  is 
strong  in  proportion  as  it  possesses 
virtue,  and  weak  if  it  lacks  it.  Char- 
acter is  the  power  of  endurance  in 
the  group  as  well  as  in  the  person. 
The  nations  that  have  fallen  have 
decayed  morally  before  they  have 
failed  physically. '"If  our  nation  is  to 
endure,  it  must  stand  for  eternal 
principles  and  clothe  itself  in  their 
strength.  There  are  some  who  say 
that  we  must  now  have  the  largest 
navy  in  the  world  to  terrorize  other 
nations,  and  make  them  respect  us. 
But  if  we  make  our  navy  the  largest 
[55] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

in  the  world,  other  nations  will  in- 
crease their  navies  because  we  have 
increased  ours,  and  then  we  will  have 
to  increase  ours  again,  because  they 
have  increased  theirs,  and  they  will 
have  to  increase  theirs  again  because 
we  have  increased  ours — and  there 
is  no  limit  to  this  rivalry  except 
the  limit  of  the  power  of  the  people 
to  bear  the  burdens  of  taxation. 
There  is  a  better,  a  safer  and  a  less 
expensive  plan.  Instead  of  trying  to 
make  our  navy  the  largest  in  the 
world,  let  us  try  to  make  our  gov- 
ernment the  best  government  on 
earth.  Instead  of  trying  to  make  our 
flag  float  everywhere,  let  us  make  it 
stand  for  justice  wherever  it  floats — 
for  justice  between  man  and  man, 
for  justice  between  nation  and  nation, 
and  for  humanity  always.  And  then 

the  people  of  the  world  will  learn  to 
[56] 


THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 

know  and  revere  that  flag,  because  it 
will  be  their  protection  as  well  as 
ours.  And  then  if  any  king  raises  his 
hand  against  our  flag  the  opprest 
people  of  his  own  land  will  rise  up 
and  say  to  him  "Hands  off!  That 
flag  stands  for  our  rights  as  well  as 
the  rights  of  the  American  people/' 
It  is  possible  to  make  our  flag  repre- 
sent such  an  ideal.  We  shall  not  ful- 
fil our  great  mission,  we  shall  not 
live  up  to  our  high  duty,  unless  we 
present  to  the  world  the  highest  ideals 
in  individual  life,  in  domestic  life,  in 
business  life,  in  professional  life,  in 
political  life  —  and  the  highest  na- 
tional ideal  that  the  world  has  ever 
known. 


[57] 


SPEECHES 

OF 

WILLIAM    JENNINGS    BRYAN 

All  who  art  called  upon  to  speak  from  platform  or 
pulpit  can  gain  much  from  a  study  of  William  J. 
Bryan's  methods. 

This  man  probably  has  spoken  to  more  people 
than  any  other  man  who  ever  lived.  And — 

His  eloquence  belongs  to  our  own  time — is  a  pro- 
duct of  this  day  and  generation — is  the  kind  of  speech 
used  effectively  before  your  fellow  men  TO-DAY. 

Now  for  the  first  time  his  principal  speeches  have 
been  printed  in  two  permanent  volumes,  personally 
revised  and  arranged  by  the  orator.  Mrs.  (Mary 
Baird)  Bryan  has  added  a  biographical  introduction, 
which  we  supplement  with  portrait  illustrations 
showing  Mr.  Bryan  at  various  ages. 

Besides  many  famous  political  speeches,  the  two 
volumes  contain  these  oratorical  gems : — 

41  Patriotism,"  in  London  on  Thanksgiving  Day,  "Man," 
"Radicalism  and  Conservatism,"  "The  White  Man's  Burden,'" 
"  Missions,"  "At  the  Peace  Congress,"  "  The  Value  of  an  Ideal," 
"Faith,"  "The  Prince  of  Peace,"  "The  Price  of  a  Soul," 
"Character,"  "Presenting  a  Copy  of  Gray's  Elegy,"  "To  His 
Neighbors,"  "  Memorial  Day  at  Arlington/'  "  At  His  Reception 
in  Lincoln,"  "  Commerce,"  "  The  Conservation  of  Natural  Re- 
sources," "Lincoln  as  an  Orator,"  "Dreamers." 

"  Not  a  few  judges  pronounce  Mr.  Bryan  the  greatest  living 
orator  in  the  English  language."—  Toronto  Globe. 

"  Mrs.  Bryan  deserves  great  credit  for  her  critical  appreciation 
of  her  husband's  work  and  place  in  the  world."-— N.  T.  Press. 

Two  volumes ,Cloth  ,-  each  $f.oo,  net ;  both  volume*  by  mail, 

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SPEECHES  OF 

William  Jennings  Bryan 

Revised  and  Arranged  by  Himself 

In  Five   Uniform  Volumes,  Thin   12mo, 
Ornamented  Boards — Dainty  Style 

Following  Are  the  Titles: 

THE  PEOPLE'S  LAW-A  dis- 
cussion  of  State  Constitutions 
and  what  they  should  contain. 
THE  PRICE  OF  A  SOUL 
THE  VALUE  OF  AN  IDEAL 
THE  PRINCE  OF  PEACE 
MAN 

Reprinted  in  this  form  from  Volume  II  of  Mr. 
Bryan's  Speeches.  Each  of  these  four  addresses  has 
been  delivered  before  many  large  audiences. 

These  five  volumes  make  a  most  attractive  series. 

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Two  Other  Notable  Speeches 

THE   SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES ;    to  which  is 

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HOW  TO 
SPEAK  IN   PUBLIC 

A  Most  Suggestive  and  Practical  Self- Instructor 
BY  GRENVILLK  KLEISER 

Author  of  *'  Power  and  Personality  in  Speaking,1*  Etc. 

nTHIS  new  book  is  a  complete  elocutionary  manual  com- 
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speaking. 

OUTLINE  OF  CONTENTS 


Mechanics  of  Elocution 
Mental  Aspects 
Public  Speaking 
Selections  for  Practise 


Previous  Preparation 
Physical  Preparation 
Mental  Preparation 
Moral  Preparation 


Preparation  of  Speech 

44  Many  useful  suggestions  in  It.1*—  Hon.  Jottfb  H.  Cboate,  New 
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in  Speech  and  Manner 

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Preliminary  Steps— Building  the  Will—The  Cure  of  Self-Con- 
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How  TO  DEVELOP 

Power  and 

Personality 

IN  SPEAKING 

By  GRENVILLE   KLEISER 

Author  of  "How  to»Spcak  in  Public."   Introduction  by  Lewi*  O.  firm*- 
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"  It  is  a  book  of  value.     The  selections  arc  fine.      It  is  an 
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"Thi  Laugh  Trust— Their  Book19 

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AND    HOW   TO    HOLD    AN   AUDIENCE 
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